USA > New Hampshire > State builders; an illustrated historical and biographical record of the state of New Hampshire at the beginning of the twentieth century > Part 18
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Denying the legitimacy and power of those human conditions and so-called material laws which would rob man of his birthright as the child of God and subject him to all the tortures and degradations of sin and suffer- ing, Christian Science smites his shackles of error with the sword of Truth, and bids him rise to the privilege and enjoyment of the fulness of that inheritance and sovereignty which is vouchsafed him in Jesus Christ.
While accepting the orthodox postulates of the divine nature, and the fundamental doctrines of catholic Chris- tianity, Christian Science presents its great contrast in its consistent, persistent, and philosophic maintenance of these postulates; its increased emphasis of the spiritual signification of scriptural statements; its constant direc- tion and uplift of thought from human personality to divine Principle, and its declaration and demonstration of the present possibility of healing through the apprehen-
* Science and Health, p. 468.
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sion of Truth as taught and demonstrated by the Naza- rene. It avers that religious truth is one with all truth, and is scientific; that the laws of God are always opera- tive, and that the one and only adequate attestation of truth is demonstration. It asserts that the universe is the constant going forth of the wisdom and power of infinite Love, and that it is therefore spiritual and harmonious; that evil-all error and disharmony- springs from that false sense and interpretation of the universe surnamed matter, and pertains wholly to it, and that it is unreal because it does not and cannot manifest the life and law of God; that immortal man is wholly spiritual, a ray of light which ever images and reflects the divine nature, and which is the consciousness of good alone; that the material sense of life is not man, but a false consciousness, which passes with the awakening to spiritual reality, the assertion of the true self. It declares that the knowledge of God, Truth, is as efficient now as ever to defeat and destroy error and give that triumph over sin, sickness, and death which attended the ministry of Jesus and his disciples; that divine Love, not fear, governs all in the universe of Mind, and that its dominion in us will break all our fetters, heal all our diseases, and give us that victory and peace which alone can satisfy man's immortal instincts and craving. It bids man know that his bonds are but the straw of human belief; that all that is real is good, and that to know God now means health, freedom from sin, ever-increasing sovereignty over human limita- tions, and eternal life. Submitting to the requirements of the scientific method, it proceeds to prove the truth of its teaching, as did our Lord, by the healing of sickness and sin; and with love for all and malice toward none it addresses its constant endeavor to the realization of an unselfish end, the salvation of humanity from the sin and sorrow which mark its bondage to material
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sense. "As the ages advance in spirituality, Christian Science will be seen to depart from the trend of other Christian denominations in no wise except by increase of spirituality."*
To those who were bound by the relentless fetters of a materialistic philosophy, and burdened with the physical woes of a time-honored material sense, Christian Science has come to bring release from bondage, surcease of pain and the glad hope and inspiration of a lofty idealism. Thousands and tens of thousands of those who were once discouraged and bed-ridden sufferers, or who were the hopeless victims of drink and the baser habits of sin, are to-day free and well through its ministry, and with grateful hearts they remember her who, through the long years, in patient, self-forgetful devotion has battled for humanity and has won. They thank God for the dawn of a happier, better day, and they honor the hand that has led them out of darkness into light. Their affection for Mrs. Eddy is the natural and spontaneous expression of their sense of indebted- ness, and they know full well that they will give it that expression which will most please her as with earnest faithfulness they honor the pledge which all true Christian Scientists are daily seeking to fulfil: "We solemnly promise to strive, watch, and pray for that Mind to be in us which was also in Christ Jesus; to love one another; and to be meek, merciful, just, and pure."+
JOHN BUCKLEY WILLIS.
* Miscellaneous Writings, by Mrs. Eddy, p. 21.
t Science and Health, p. 497.
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MOODY CURRIER, Governor of New Hampshire, 1885-1886
MOODY CURRIER.
More than ninety years of a happy, honorable, useful and cultured life was the portion of Hon. Moody Cur- rier, who was born in Boscawen April 22, 1806, and died at Manchester August 23, 1898.
From the humble circumstances of a poor farmer's boy he made his way unaided to the highest position within the gift of his state and in his service as governor proved how well the discipline of his early struggles and later successes had qualified him for executive responsi- bility.
As a boy he was limited to the meagre pittance of six weeks of schooling per year, but so industriously did he then apply himself and so earnestly did he seek for learn- ing without the schoolhouse walls that he mastered the English branches and qualified himself to act as teacher in the district schools of his youth.
Bound to gain all the education that lay within his farthest stretch of ways and means he entered Dartmouth college and graduated with the class of 1834, having the distinguished honor of a Greek oration at Commence- ment Day.
He then taught school, being principal of the academy at Hopkinton for one year and of the Lowell, Massachu- setts, High school for five years. But teaching was not his ultimate aim, and in the hours not required by his school work Mr. Currier was poring over law books to such good effect that in 1841, in the city of Manchester, he
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was admitted to the practice of law in the state and United States courts. His career as a lawyer was a bril- liant and distinguished one.
During its progress he naturally became identified with the organization and management of the more important among the financial and industrial institutions of the rapidly growing city. Thus wealth came to him which he rightly enjoyed and conscientiously employed.
Political honors came as a matter of course to the popular and prosperous attorney and man of affairs and a long series of public offices, filled with the greatest ability and integrity, culminated in his election to the governorship and his administration of the affairs of the state with the greatest success in the years 1885 and 1886.
During the remainder of his life he principally devoted himself to literature which has always been his chief solace and recreation. The possessor of a splendid li- brary, chosen with a care which showed the real culture of the owner, Mr. Currier himself produced many works that secured wide praise from critics. His poems, in par- ticular, were of great literary and intellectual merit.
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MRS. MOODY CURRIER
MRS. MOODY CURRIER.
Mrs. Moody Currier was the youngest daughter of Enoch Slade, Esq., a distinguished citizen of Thetford, Vermont, and sister of Gen. Samuel W. Slade, an emi- nent lawyer of St. Johnsbury, in the same state. She received her early education in Thetford academy, at that time one of the most famous institutions in New England. Here many of the sons and daughters of New Hampshire and Vermont resorted to prepare for college, or to obtain a higher education than could be obtained elsewhere. In this celebrated school Miss Slade early found herself ranking among the foremost, not only in the ordinary studies, but also in the higher branches of Greek, Latin and mathematics, which she pursued far into the college course. After leaving the Academy with the highest reputation for scholarship, Miss Slade went to Boston, where under distinguished teachers she continued her studies in music, French and other branches of polite literature, thus adding a metro- politan finish not easily acquired in rural institutions.
Miss Slade married Hon. Moody Currier, the distin- guished banker in Manchester, N. H., who was in 1885 and 1886 governor of the state. The accomplishments of Mrs. Currier added greatly to the dignity and popu- larity of his administration.
After her marriage, in connection with her husband she continued her literary and scientific pursuits, keeping up with the progress of the age, adopting in their broad-
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est and most liberal sense the best thoughts of modern research. Although she has never given to the public any of her literary productions, her education and criti- cal tastes would warrant success in such an undertaking. She does not seek distinction by a display to the world of her charities and benefactions, which are many, and known only to those who receive them. She believes that the proper sphere of woman is her home, which she renders happy and adorns by devoting to it the best energies of her life.
By her care and watchfulness she threw around her husband's declining years a mantle of joy and glad- ness.
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AUGUSTUS D. AYLING, Adjutant-General of New Hampshire since 1879
AUGUSTUS D. AYLING.
Augustus Davis Ayling received his commission from Governor Head, July 15, 1879, as adjutant general of New Hampshire, and has held this position ever since. He was born in Boston in 1840; was educated at Law- rence academy, Groton, and in the public schools of Lowell. When through school he entered the employ of J. C. Ayer & Co. of Lowell, Mass. Here he remained until 1861, when he enlisted in the Richardson Light infantry, an unattached company named in honor of Hon. George F. Richardson of Lowell, which became the Seventh Massachusetts Light Battery. He was ap- pointed second lieutenant in the Twenty-ninth volun- teers in January, 1862, and later in the year was pro- moted to the first lieutenancy. In the spring of 1864 he was mustered out. About a year later he became a first lieutenant of the Twenty-fourth Massachusetts regi- ment, and was made adjutant of the regiment. He was also aide-de-camp and judge advocate on the staff of Major General R. S. Foster, who commanded the first division, twenty-fourth corps. He was mustered out of the service in 1866.
Later in the year he removed to Nashua, where he lived until appointed to his present position. During his residence in Nashua he served as inspector of checklists, assessor and assistant city marshal. Married Elizabeth F. Cornish at Centreville, Cape Cod, Mass., December 22, 1869. Two children, Edith C., born March 28, 1871; Charles L., born January 22, 1875.
General Ayling is a Mason, a Knights Templar, a member of the G. A. R., of the Loyal Legion, and of several military-social organizations.
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GEN. CHARLES WILLIAMS.
The growth and development of Manchester, New Hampshire's centre of population, commerce, manufact- uring and enterprise, is due not more to the extensive natural advantages which the city enjoys by reason of its magnificent water-power, than to the persistent industry and sagacity of her citizens. A large contributor to the upbuilding of the city of Manchester was Gen. Charles Williams, who was born in Oxford, England, November 2d, 1836, the son of a coal dealer who emigrated to America in 1846. Charles Williams enjoyed only lim- ited educational advantages, but his inheritance of sturdy common sense largely atoned for any deficiencies in his training, and he was enabled throughout the whole of a long and successful career in both business and private life to meet men of all classes upon terms of equality and to make for himself a secure place in the history of the community where he had his home. He began his busi- ness career as a merchant, but buying and selling afforded too limited a field for the exercise of his abilities, and he entered into manufacturing, becoming the owner of large and valuable quarries of soap stone in the town of Francestown. These quarries he developed thoroughly and established a large manufacturing industry in the city of Nashua, where the rough stone he quarried was utilized in the manufacture of stoves, tables, wash tubs, trays and other articles of extensive use. The transpor- tation facilities within the city of Manchester, consisting
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of a short and slenderly equipped horse railroad, attracted his attention, and he purchased the plant, extended it, and finally equipped it with the best of electrical appa- ratus, and at last sold it to its present owners in a condi- tion of equipment, earning capacity and potential devel- opment second to that of no other street railroad in New England. General Williams was a Republican and served in many official capacities as the successful candi- date of that party. At one time he was a member of the Governor's Council of New Hampshire, and had held many public positions of lesser rank. He married Oc- tober 4th, 1856, Miss Ann Augusta Jackson, of Manches- ter, and had three children. His home was one of the most attractive in the city of Manchester and in it he was an ideal husband and father. He was a constant attend- ant and liberal supporter of the Methodist Church, and gave generously to religious and charitable institutions all over the state. He died November 6th, 1899, be- queathing to his heirs not only a substantial portion of the world's goods, but that good name which is better than riches.
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HENRY M. BAKER.
Henry M. Baker was born in Bow, New Hampshire, January II, 1841. His parents were Aaron Whitte- more and Nancy Dustin Baker. His great-great grand- mother was Hannah, only daughter of Capt. John Love- well, the famous Indian fighter, who was killed in the battle of Pigwacket, May 8, 1725. She married Capt. Joseph Baker May 31, 1739, and they resided in Pem- broke on lands which had been granted to the survivors and heirs of those killed in that battle. Captain Baker was commissioned captain "of the foot company in the place commonly called and known by the name of Sun- cook" by Governor Benning Wentworth, May 30, 1758, and served as private in several military expeditions in the French and Indian wars. He was a member of the Third Provincial congress of New Hampshire, and held other positions of honor and responsibility.
Capt. Baker's son Joseph was one of the first settlers of Bow, where he held various town offices. He mar- ried Marion Moore, a descendant of the Scotch cove- nanters. He was a soldier in the Revolution.
On the maternal side Mr. Baker is a descendant of the colonial heroine, Hannah Dustin.
His father, Aaron W. Baker, held several local offices, though, being an Abolitionist, he was in the political minority until late in life. Mr. Baker was fortunate in having a father who was earnest and enthusiastic and had the courage of his convictions, and a mother of high
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character, sweet disposition and great talent. He was the youngest of their four sons. They gave him a good education. He attended the academies in Pembroke, Hopkinton and Tilton, and graduated at Dartmouth Col- lege in 1863. Three years later he received the degree of Master of Arts. He studied law and graduated from the Law department of Columbian University. He is a member of the bar of the Supreme Court of the United States. In 1886-87 he was judge advocate general of the New Hampshire national guard with the rank of brigadier general.
In 1890 he was elected to the state senate, where he was chairman of the judiciary committee. In 1892 he was elected to congress and re-elected two years later. He was not a candidate for re-election. In congress he was a member of the judiciary and other important com- mittees and frequently participated in the general discus- sions of the House. Several of his speeches were printed and extensively circulated.
He was a member of the Constitutional convention of 1902. For several years he was president of the Alumni of Dartmouth College. He is a Knights Templar, a Re- publican in politics, and in religion a Unitarian. He is a member of the New Hampshire club, the New Hamp- shire Historical society and president of the New Hamp- shire society of the Sons of the American Revolution.
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CHARLES E. STANIELS.
Charles Eastman Staniels, a prominent life insurance agent of Concord, N. H., was born in Lowell, Mass., December 27th, 1844, son of Edward L. and Ruth Brad- ley (Eastman) Staniels. The father, born in Chichester, N. H., for many years was interested in the drug business, successively in Lowell and Boston, Mass. Toward the latter part of his life he removed to Roxbury, then a suburb of Boston, and died there at the age of sixty-five years. He was twice married. By his first wife there were three children, all of whom are now dead. His sec- ond marriage was made with Ruth Bradley Eastman, now over ninety-one years old, whose only child is the subject of this sketch. A daughter of General Isaac Eastman, of Concord, N. H., she is a direct descendant, in the fifth generation, of Captain Ebenezer Eastman, the first settler of Concord, and of Captain Edward Johnson, the histor- ian of Woburn, Mass., one of the commissioners ap- pointed by the general court of Massachusetts Bay colony to fix the northern boundary of that colony in 1652. In 1833 a large boulder was discovered at the entrance of Lake Winnepesaukee at Weirs, N. H., bearing the initials of Governor John Endicott, with those of the commis- sioners, Captain Edward Johnson and Captain Symon Willard, which had remained unnoticed and subject to elemental actions for one hundred and eighty-one years. The State of New Hampshire has erected a substantial stone canopy upon this historic "Endicott Rock," thereby
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CHARLES E. STANIELS
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protecting the ancient inscriptions for all time. John Staniels, the grandfather of Charles Eastman, was a na- tive of Chichester, and followed the occupations of farmer and builder. He lived to a very advanced age, and left a family of twelve children. Judge William M. Chase of Concord, is one of his descendants. The original surname of this family was Stanyan, and its annals are interwoven with those of Rockingham county.
Charles Eastman Staniels was educated in the Boston grammar schools and in the Roxbury Latin school. In the latter institution he was prepared for college, but the out- break of the Civil war diverted him from the purpose of pursuing a collegiate course. He had enlisted in the Fifty- sixth Massachusetts regiment of volunteers when his par- ents had him discharged on account of his extreme youth. He then went to work in a wholesale furnishing house in the city of Boston. Subsequently, in 1865, he became a commercial traveller for the same house, and has been more or less on the road ever since. In those mid-cen- tury days, Western travel was an entirely different affair from the convenience and even luxury that attend it to- day. The inconvenience, hardship, and even suffering involved in a long western mercantile trip in those days can hardly be compared to-day. "Staging" as it was called, and steamboating on Western rivers were then common factors in a travelling man's experience. Before the completion of the Union Pacific Railroad and the consequent development and growth of large business centres, the commercial traveller in the extreme West was subject to diversions not known to the present gen- eration of mercantile agents. A buffalo hunt, an Indian scrimmage on the frontier, or a few nights in a snow blockade in the Rockies were not considered unusual or especially unmixed blessings.
In 1869 Mr. Staniels assumed the charge of a manu- facturing establishment in Boston, and thereafter managed
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its affairs in the South and West for a number of years. At length his health becoming somewhat undermined by his devotion to business matters, he removed to New Hampshire and took two years of complete rest. Then he engaged in the fire insurance business in Concord. To this he has since added life insurance, and has now been en- gaged in both very successfully for the past 17 years, highly esteemed by his business associates. He has been a member of the executive committee of the national life underwriters' association of the United States since its organization, and has also served as President of the New Hampshire life underwriters' association. He mar- ried Eva F. Tuttle of Boston, Mass., whose parents were natives of New Hampshire, and they have a family of three children; namely, Charles T., Mabel R. (and Ros- coe E., deceased ).
A deservedly popular man in his community, Mr. Stan- iels has been elected to membership in numerous associa- tions. He was chosen twice to fill the presidential chair of the New Hampshire Society of the Sons of the Ameri- can Revolution, and left that organization in fine condi- tion when he retired from the office. He has also been President of the White Mountain Travellers' association. During its continuance he was the secretary of the Chau- tauqua assembly of New Hampshire, and also served the Eastman Family association in a similar capacity. Wher- ever he has made his home, he has taken a keen interest in the local military matters. While living in Boston, he was a commissioned officer of the Boston Tigers. On one occasion, at the time of the "draft riots" in that city, he was in command of a detachment of that organization, guarding the arms and ammunition of the state stored in old Boylston hall. Since coming to New Hampshire, he has served as a commissioned officer in the old Amos- keag Veterans, and in 1903 he was chosen major com- manding. In politics Mr. Staniels is a Republican, and
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he cast his initial ballot for Abraham Lincoln in 1864. He is Secretary and Treasurer of the Republican city committee, trustee of the public library and was for sev- eral years a member of the district school committee of Concord. He is a member of the East Concord Congre- gational Church.
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REUBEN HOWARD CHENEY.
The late Frederick D. Tappan, president of the Galla- tin National Bank of New York City and for many years president of the New York Clearing House Association, in drawing his will instructed his executors and trustees to invest only in such securities as they may find included in the list of investments made by the Mutual Life Insur- ance Company of New York. Thus did a great banker voluntarily pay high tribute to a life insurance company which is confessedly the largest bank of the world.
The value and wisdom of and the benefits to be derived from life insurance have been proved over and over again, hence it is not surprising that all the shrewdest and richest merchants, manufacturers, and professional men all over this broad land of ours carry life insurance, and very often to a large amount. And these men-some of them carrying million-dollar policies-like the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York. A corporation, like an individual, has a character of its own, and by it is known. Away back in the days of our grandfathers the Mutual Life was founded by sterling, old-school New York business men. It started right, stayed right, and is right. There have been no strayings, no cross-purposes, no small aims, no melodramatic screamings. Adhering always to highest standards, never seeking to win fortune or public favor on any less terms, it has steadfastly pur- sued its ideals, meting and measuring with unerring jus- tice, and writing in golden lines the most precious and stainless business history to which America can point and wherein there lurks no flaw.
Prior to January first 1903 the interests of the Mutual
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Life Insurance company of New York in New Hamp- shire and Vermont were under the direction of Reuben H. and Fred M. Cheney under the firm name of Cheney & Cheney. For fifteen years the brothers continued in business together, the final dissolution of the firm resulting from the new system of their company which went into effect January first, 1903. The adoption of this system sent Fred M. to Buffalo, New York, while Reuben Howard, the senior partner, remains in Manchester and in full charge of the company's field work in New Hamp- shire and Vermont.
In the spring of 1903 Mr. Cheney, for his company took possession of what are without question the largest, best equipped and most complete offices in New England, outside of Boston, devoted to the life insurance business. These offices are on the ground floor, and have the dis- tinction of being the only ground floor offices possessed by any single insurance company in Manchester, even if not in any other larger New England city. This fact of its ground floor offices is significant and full of meaning. Mr. Cheney is, first of all, recognized by the Mutual Life as capable of justifying such large expenditure as it necessarily involves, and that the company's business in New Hampshire and Vermont comprised in his territory, will continue to grow in the future as in the past. It like- wise is a practical demonstration of the strength and re- source of the Mutual Life Company.
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